Sakura turned over, troubled by her dream, to lie down again. This had not happened in three years! Even before the dream was never this intense. She had never been able to see the guy she was doing *things* with either. Sakura shook silently as the sweat chilled her skin. Even more unnerving than the dream though, was the fact that she was disappointed it had ended. Fear took her. The pinkette decided this would have to end. Naruto had options now. He would choose someone else, possibly even Ino. They would be good together. Sakura cried herself to sleep, believing her heart to already be broken.

The next morning was an early one. Getting up at five A.M. had never had her dragging this much before. The shower had not even helped to awaken her. She walked down the road to the hospital for her early shift. This would be her first time being late, but Sakura just did not have the energy to care. She could not remember anything she did throughout the day. She must have performed well enough for no one to question. What she did not know was that everyone had been so put off by how she had acted and looked all day that they were unable to say anything. At twelve-noon, Sakura went out to get lunch for Lady Tsunade and herself and headed for the Hokage tower.

They ate in silence for a bit after exchanging a normal greeting. Tsunade then decided that it had gone on long enough.

"What's wrong with you? You look like you have been completely beaten!" she stated bluntly. Sakura looked down, playing with her food.

Then forcing a smile to her face looked up to say, "Nothing! You haven't been drinking yet, have you Tsunade-sama?" Damn Tsunade-sama. Can't you just not be brilliant for once?

"You are lying, but it is too early in the day to pry, so tell me how you've been instead. It has been a few days since we last met."

"I haven't really been up to much. Just the usual: working at the hospital catching up with friends and family." Oh shit! This is going in the wrong direction. Please don't pick up on it…

"I see, and are your family well?"

"Yes, very. Thank you for asking."

"And your friends. How are they?"

Sakura laughs nervously, "Oh they are all fine, though you probably know that better than me."

"Of their mental and physical standing, I do, but you know the gossip and the inside info." Oh god. She knows something.

"Hehe… well there hasn't really been that much to tell of late. Oh, but there was that one thing…" Take it, take it.

Tsunade lost her focus to the curiosity. "What thing?" Score!

"Oh, just a series kid photos of Kiba playing with his older sister," here she paused leaving Tsunade looking on with bored eyes, "playing dress-up getting his hair and make up done. Oh! And the tea party." This left Tsunade stunned. Sakura grinned as she delivered the final punch line. " He was twelve." Tsunade burst into laughter; crying from the shear hilarity of it all.

Sakura took this as her time to escape and while the hokage pounded the table through fits of laughter, she made some vague excuses and moved slowly toward the door. Here however, Tsunade sobered instantly, "Don't think you can run from the inevitable, Sakura." Crap. " Sit down a while. Let's have a chat about a certain…..mutual friend." Double crap. "One that returned recently. One that you used to talk about quite often, but have stopped since his return." I didn't talk about him that often. "A certain blonde ninja…"

"Alright! I get it. You want to talk about Naruto, geesh."

"Well not particularly, but since you brought it up." Tsunade was grinning like a Cheshire cat. "So what happened when he returned…? Hmmm? Anything… interesting?"

"No, not really. We talked some. He seems to really have grown up in these past three years. We actually haven't seen each other that much. There was the day he got back, some odd sightings from across a street and such, oh and the festival."

"You went to the festival together! How sweet."

" Not exactly… He went with Ino. I merely met up with them there."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's good that Naruto is enjoying himself."

Tsunade just shook her head. The rest of the meal was finished in silence and after they said their good-byes, Sakura left for home and a nice bath to help calm her down.